Metallization of DNA

The low intrinsic conductance of DNA seems to be a serious obstacle for the use of its unique self-assembly capabilities in nanoelectronics. The addition of metal atoms to the structure of DNA turned out to be a promising way to decrease the resistance significantly. Here, we review various techniques to combine metal and DNA, ranging from the application of a few atoms to complete metal coverage of the biomolecule. In addition, we investigate the resulting properties of the assembled hybrid structures. In some cases we obtain highly conductive nanowires, which exhibit the low temperature behaviour of polycrystalline metallic structures. Possible applications like single-electron devices or electronic bNA-recognition system's are discussed on the basis of their proof of concept studies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.